MusicRadar's review of the year: 2009

December

The month isn’t over quite yet but it’s still seen some pretty big music news. John Frusciante quit the Red Hot Chili Peppers (actually, it seems he quit some time ago - we just couldn’t tell you ‘til now) sending shockwaves around the musosphere.

There was further upset when Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name beat X Factor winner Joe McElderry’s debut to the Christmas number one spot. Controversial - but not quite as controversial as the week before when, playing live, RATM swore all over Nicky Campbell’s breakfast radio show despite apparently promising they wouldn’t. The line in question, “Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me!”, was probably a clue.

Then there was the Gibson Dusk Tiger - the US guitar giant’s latest robo-axe. The Dusk Tiger was packed with technology (check out our picture overview) being the most advanced model in the Robot Guitar series yet, and it also featured one of the most innovative (if divisive) designs to come out of the Gibson camp in years.